


Temporary Insanity

by Fairfaxleasee



Series: Nathaniel/Sloane [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Childhood Friends, Denial, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fade to Black, Idiots in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29312982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairfaxleasee/pseuds/Fairfaxleasee
Summary: Sloane Cousland searches for Nathaniel Howe and finds exactly what she refuses to admit she was looking for.
Relationships: Cousland/Nathaniel Howe, Female Cousland/Nathaniel Howe, Nathaniel Howe/Female Warden
Series: Nathaniel/Sloane [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2153115
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Temporary Insanity

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @blondetexan and @xqueen0fhellx for betaing.
> 
> Find me on tumblr at fairfaxleasee.tumblr.com (asks/anon asks open)

Sloane Cousland closed in on her target. She should probably care more that she was  _ pathetically _ easy to see coming, and making no effort to conceal the sound of her movement, but this particular target was  _ incredibly _ stupid - as evidenced by the fact that it was currently flirting with someone who wanted everyone dead.

“ANDERS!” she shouted.

The mage’s hand slipped from the wall he was leaning on and he turned nervously towards Sloane. Velanna used his distraction to hook a foot behind one of his legs to pull it out from under him and sent him crashing to the floor in front of Sloane before stalking off.

“I was making progress!” Anders whined at her.

“Get yourself killed on your own fucking time. Where’s Howe?”

“Don’t  _ have _ my own fucking time, you Wardens are just as bad as the Circle,” he muttered as he stood and dusted himself off.

She leaned towards him and glared, “Where. Is. Howe?”

“Why do you  _ always _ assume I know?”

“So you don’t know, that’s your story?”

“No, I don’t know!”

“Fine. Fifty push-ups. Now.”

“You’re making me do push-ups because I don’t know an answer?”

“No, I’m making you do push-ups because they have a way of jogging your memory. So unless it’s already jogged-”

“He said he was going to practice in the forest but that’s all I know!”

“Lie to me again, and it’s going to be a hundred.”

“That really  _ will _ kill me.”

“I’ll be sure to let Velanna watch, then.”

Sloane turned away and headed for the entrance of the Keep. She personally thought Velanna was likely to kill Anders herself before she made him do any more push-ups, but the elf hadn’t done it yet so maybe she wasn’t going to. Still, even if she or Velanna didn’t kill Anders, it was only a matter of time before he pissed off the wrong woman.

But she didn’t care about Anders or Velanna or whatever woman was finally going to end him; she cared about Nathaniel.

No, that was wrong. She didn’t  _ care _ about Nathaniel; she wanted to  _ find _ Nathaniel. Two completely different things.

_ How dare he spend all day hiding from me? And how DARE he be an even bigger distraction when I can’t see him than when I can? And how  _ DARE _ he be a distraction in the first place? _

She picked up her pace once she got out of the Keep and could run without worrying about colliding with anyone. It had nothing to do with being worried someone would see her and ask questions. She was the Warden Commander, Nathaniel was a Warden; she had every right to wonder where he was and find him. And that’s all she wanted to do. Find him.

Fortunately, she knew exactly where to look. Anders may have no idea, but Nathaniel had been using the same forest clearing to practice since they were children.

He used it to hide from things too, like the boat that took him to the Free Marches a decade ago. And she’d led his father right to him. She realized that Rendon Howe would have found him anyways, if not in time for THAT boat then a different one, it was just easier to use her to do it. She’d still been careless. She’d just been so  _ mad _ when she’d heard he was going to be going to the Free Marches  _ without her _ . He wasn’t supposed to leave her  _ behind _ . He was supposed to be behind  _ her _ . 

She’d found him just off the clearing and shouted her objections. He hadn’t said anything, just looked away at the ground.

Then his father had come up, put a hand on her head, and drawled, “Good job, girl. I knew you’d be able to find him without too much fuss.” He’d removed his hand and grabbed one of Nathaniel’s skinny arms and led him off somewhere. And that was the last time Sloane had seen him before she’d found him in the dungeons.

That hadn’t been the end for her, of course. She shouted her objections to her own father when she got back to the Keep, but he just let her shout herself hoarse and exhaust herself before he knelt down and explained, “I know it’s hard, Pup. But it’ll be good for both you  _ and _ Nathaniel to spend some time apart. Don’t worry; you’ll see each other again, when you’re ready and can understand.”

She hadn’t been able to shout anymore so she crossed her arms and pouted.

Her father sighed before picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder to carry her back to the carriage, “You’re really getting too big for this, Pup.”

She still didn’t know what her father was talking about about ‘being ready’ and ‘understanding,’ she’d been twelve, almost thirteen; she was perfectly capable of understanding things then. Of course, she couldn’t say she really understood what was going on with Nathaniel now. She understood what they were doing, obviously. She just didn’t understand why she wanted to so badly. Or why she couldn’t seem to keep away from him.

She stopped running as she approached the clearing. Anders might never hear her coming even if she were banging cymbals, but Nathaniel was much more aware of his surroundings. She picked her way as silently as she could around the last few trees.

She thought she might have let a soft whimper of desire slip at the sight that greeted her in the clearing: Nathaniel, lining up a shot, shirtless, in the red-gold rays of the setting sun. His back was to her, and while she didn’t usually like seeing it, now it was all she wanted to look at. Most of the time she only saw his back when he was walking away after they were finished and she was too exhausted to try and make him stay. But she’d never seen it like  _ this _ ; muscles straining to hold the bow taut, sweat glistening as it ran down around and between the muscles letting her appreciate the lines of the lean sinew on his lythe frame, shallow red gashes around his shoulder blades that she recognized as her own handiwork from when she would cling to him in the night. She watched as he inhaled a deep lungful of air, the muscles around his ribcage tensing to hold it in. He was still for a moment that seemed to stretch endlessly but was also gone too quickly, then he let out the breath and loosed the arrow.

It missed. Not by much, it was in the first ring outside the bullseye, but Sloane couldn’t remember the last time Nathaniel hadn’t hit exactly what he was aiming for. She saw him narrow his eyes at it. He reached for another arrow in the quiver at his waist and took aim again. It missed even wider. His hand hovered over the quiver for a third arrow for a few seconds before he sighed and lowered the bow. “I  _ know _ you’re there, Sloane. I heard it when you came.”

She scowled in disappointed frustration. She’d wanted him to be surprised when she finally decided to announce herself. “So? You went running off on your own, I came to make sure you weren’t getting into any trouble.”

He threw back his head and barked a laugh, “Came to make some yourself is more likely.”

Sloane crossed her arms and glared at him, “What do you think you’re  _ doing _ out here anyway?”

He finally turned to her and she was instantly caught in his steel grey eyes, “What does it  _ look _ like I’m doing?”

She swallowed and tugged at the purple streak in her hair, “Missing.” She had to whisper the word, because she didn’t think she could have said it without stumbling over it.

He dropped the bow, “Yes, well, I was somewhat distracted those last few shots.”

She took a few steps towards him, “By what?”

He stalked up to her, grabbed a fistful of her deep red hair, and gently raised her eyes to meet his. She could see the ocean blue of her eyes reflected in his grey ones and knew she was the only thing he was seeing anymore. But he wasn’t saying anything.

“Well? By  _ what _ , Nathaniel?”

He lifted the hand that wasn’t in her hair and ran it along the back of her jaw and behind her ear. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She had an errant thought that this was the first time he’d kissed her; usually he was perfectly willing, eager even, to kiss her back, but he’d never initiated the touch before. She wasn’t able to focus on the thought too much because she was busy gripping his back trying to feel the marks she’d seen on it earlier. 

He pulled his lips away too soon and whispered in her ear, “You, Sloane Cousland, drive me absolutely crazy.” The hand that had been on her jaw was slowly moving down her body.

She bit down on his earlobe just hard enough to make him tighten his grip on her before she purred, “And just what do you intend to do about that?”

He let go of her hair so he could grip her chin and trap her eyes again, “So many, many things, Sloane.”

She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. She  _ reveled _ in it.

  
  
  
  



End file.
